Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece brings together a series of stimulating chapters contributing to the archaeology and our modern understanding of the character and importance of cave sanctuaries in the fi rst millennium BCE Mediterranean. Written by emerging and established archaeologists and researchers, the book employs a fascinating and wide range of approaches and methodologies to investigate, and interpret material assemblages from cave shrines, many of which are introduced here for the fi rst time. An introductory section explores the emergence and growth of caves as centres of cult and religion. The chapters then probe some of the meanings attached to cave spaces and votive materials such as terracotta fi gurines, and ceramics, and those who created and used them. The authors use sensory and gender approaches, discuss the identity of the worshippers, and the contribution of statistical analysis to the role of votive materials. At the heart of the volume is the examination of cave materials excavated on the Cycladic islands and Crete, in Attika and Aitoloakarnania, on the Ionian islands and in southern Italy. This is a welcome volume for students of prehistoric and classical archaeology,enthusiasts of the history of caves, religion, ancient history, and anthropology.

Providing a model of how to 'do' biblical theology, this book also explores important emerging trends over the last five years including: reception-history as a means to grasping the theology of the bible; theological interpretation as a new form of lectio divina (meditative reading); the place of Jewish interpretation in forming a biblical theology; and the ever-present problem of losing Old Testament theology in New Testament theology. The second half of the book discusses the theme of Providence, as found in both Testaments, with insights gained from the history of biblical interpretation and from major attempts at working out a theology of Providence. Elliott focuses on Providence as it has been perceived rather than the themes of God's goodness and powerfulness in themselves.

Dramatic societal changes have reshaped America's families. Young adults have delayed marriage, and cohabitation before marriage has become commonplace. One in three women giving birth is unmarried, and the proportion of children under 18 living in single-parent families rose from 23 to 31 percent between 1980 and 2000, reflecting increased rates of both nonmarital childbearing and divorce. This authoritative volume offers a blueprint for addressing some of the most important measurement issues in family research, and it points out potential pitfalls for researchers and students who may not be familiar with data quality issues. The Handbook of Measurement Issues in Family Research will appeal to scholars in the departments of psychology, sociology, and population studies, as well as researchers working in governmental agencies.

This book translates the sections on pre-Islamic Persia in three Muslim Arabic chronicles, those of Ahmad al-Ya'qubi (d. ca. 910), 'Ali al-Mas'udi (d. ca. 960) and Hamza al-Isfahani (d. ca. 960s). Their accounts, like those of many other Muslim historians on this topic, draw on texts that were composed in the period 750-850 bearing the title 'The History of the Kings of the Persians'. These works served a growing audience of well-to-do Muslim bureaucrats and scholars of Persian ancestry, who were interested in their heritage and wished to make it part of the historical outlook of the new civilization that was emerging in the Middle East, namely Islamic civilization. This book explores the question of how knowledge about ancient Iran was transmitted to Muslim historians, in what forms it circulated and how it was shaped and refashioned for the new Perso-Muslim elite that served the early Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad, a city that was built only a short distance away from the old Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.

This volume provides a thorough conspectus of the field of Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek studies, mixing theoretical and historical surveys with critical and thought-provoking case studies in archaeology, history, literature and art. The chapters from this international group of experts showcase innovative methodologies, such as archaeological GIS, as well as providing accessible explanations of specialist techniques such as die studies of coins, and important theoretical perspectives, including postcolonial approaches to the Greeks in India. Chapters cover the region's archaeology, written and numismatic sources, and a history of scholarship of the subject, as well as culture, identity and interactions with neighbouring empires, including India and China. The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World is the go-to reference work on the field, and fulfils a serious need for an accessible, but also thorough and critically-informed, volume on the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms. It provides an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the Hellenistic East.

This book offers a reconstruction and interpretation of banishment in the final era of a unified Roman Empire, 284-476 CE. Author Daniel Washburn argues that exile was both a penalty and a symbol. It applied to those who committed a misstep or crossed the wrong person; it also stood as a marker of affliction or failure. Like other punishments, it articulated and cemented the power asymmetry between the punisher and the punished. Distinctively, it maneuvered the body of the banished in order to tell that tale. The process of banishment also operated as a form of negotiation between the party that exiled and the one banished. In so doing, the punishment offered the possibility for pardon, an event that glorified the pardoner and signaled submissiveness on the part of the restored. In its sources, this work employs evidence from legal as well as literary materials to forge a complete picture of exile. To harvest all possible information from the period, it considers elements from the arenas of the early church and the Roman Empire. Methodologically, it situates ancient Christianity within the Roman world, while remaining sensitive to the distinct views and roles held by late antique bishops. While banishment played a major role in the history of the Later Empire, no work of scholarship has treated it as a topic in its own right.

Punishment was an integral element of the Roman justice system and as controversial as it is today. Bauman examines the mechanics of the administering of punishment and the philosophical beliefs from which attitudes to penalty were born. The emphasis is placed on crimes against the public during the Republic and Principate with less discussion of either civil cases or issues. Special reference is made to changes in attitudes concerning the death penalty.

Originally published in 1978, this volume comprises articles previously published in the historical journal, Past and Present, ranging over nearly a thousand years of Graeco-Roman history. The essays focus primarily on the Roman Empire, reflecting the increase, in British scholarship of the post-war years, of explanatory, 'structuralist' studies of this period in Roman history. The topics treated include Athenian politics, the Roman conquest of the east, violence in the later Roman Republic, the second Sophistic, and persecutions of the early Christians. The authors have all produced original studies, a number of which have generated significant research by other ancient historians.

This book examines the relationship between athletics and philosophy in ancient Greece and Rome focused on the connection between athleticism and virtue. It begins by observing that the link between athleticism and virtue is older than sport, reaching back to the athletic feats of kings and pharaohs in early Egypt and Mesopotamia. It then traces the role of athletics and the Olympic Games in transforming the idea of aristocracy as something acquired by birth to something that can be trained. This idea of training virtue through the techniques and practice of athletics is examined in relation to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Then Roman spectacles such as chariot racing and gladiator games are studied in light of the philosophy of Lucretius, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. The concluding chapter connects the book's ancient observations with contemporary issues such as the use of athletes as role models, the relationship between money and corruption, the relative worth of participation and spectatorship, and the role of females in sport. The author argues that there is a strong link between sport and philosophy in the ancient world, calling them offspring of common parents: concern about virtue and the spirit of free enquiry. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Ethics and Sport.

First published in 1974, this book is a collection of nine essays written by Victor Ehrenberg between 1925 and 1967, five of which had not been published before. They deal with a number of aspects of Greek and Roman history, and with the nature of ancient history in the East and West. The first essay is a broad survey of interactions between opposing forces and ideas in the world as seen from the most ancient Near Eastern civilizations to the beginning of the western Middle Ages and the era of Byzantium; this is followed by discussions of topics from Classical and Hellenistic Greece and Republican and Imperial Rome, with the accent on the history of ideas and institutions -freedom, the Greek city-state, and Roman concepts of state and empire. The final chapter consists of personal reflections on the meaning of history from the writer's own characteristic viewpoint, and is, as he admits, more in the way of a confession than pure scholarship.

Using Roman literary and legal sources, this book assesses Roman penal policy through an in-depth examination of six high-profile criminal cases, ranging from the Bacchanalian trials in 186 BC to the trials for treason and magic in the fourth century. Identifying Roman attitudes to crime and punishment, this book brings out contrasts and developments in those attitudes. O.F. Robinson examines Roman criminal legislation (both that laid down by Justinian and that codified and confirmed by him) as well as Roman attitudes, both juristic and philosophical, to the purposes of punishment, including deterrence, retribution, reform, protection of the public and how they were modified over time. The author also discusses arguments for fixed as against flexible penalties, and the changes made in the actual punishments and in those to whom they were applied. This book is an essential tool for any specialist, student or researcher wishing to learn more about Roman values from their approach to crime and punishment

The discovery of ancient Egypt and the development of Egyptology are momentous events in intellectual and cultural history. The history of Egyptology is the story of the people, famous and obscure, who constructed the picture of ancient Egypt that we have today, recovered the Egyptian past while inventing it anew, and made a lost civilization comprehensible to generations of enchanted readers and viewers thousands of years later. This, the second of a three-volume survey of the history of Egyptology, explores the years 1881-1914, a period marked by the institutionalization of Egyptology amid an ever increasing pace of discovery and the opening of vast new vistas into the Egyptian past. Wonderful Things affirms that the history of ancient Egypt has proved continually fascinating, but it also demonstrates that the history of Egyptology is no less so. Only by understanding how Egyptology has developed can we truly understand ancient Egypt.

The Sumerian World explores the archaeology, history and art of southern Mesopotamia and its relationships with its neighbours from c.3,000 - 2,000BC. Including material hitherto unpublished from recent excavations, the articles are organised thematically using evidence from archaeology, texts and the natural sciences. This broad treatment will also make the volume of interest to students looking for comparative data in allied subjects such as ancient literature and early religions. Providing an authoritative, comprehensive and up to date overview of the Sumerian period written by some of the best qualified scholars in the field, The Sumerian World will satisfy students, researchers, academics, and the knowledgeable layperson wishing to understand the world of southern Mesopotamia in the third millennium.

This volume investigates how urban growth and prosperity transformed the cities of the Roman Mediterranean in the last centuries BCE and the fi rst centuries CE, integrating debates about Roman urban space with discourse on Roman urban history. The contributions explore how these cities developed landscapes full of civic memory and ritual, saw commercial priorities transforming the urban environment, and began to expand signifi cantly beyond their wall circuits. These interrelated developments not only changed how cities looked and could be experienced, but they also affected the functioning of the urban community and together contributed to keeping increasingly complex urban communities socially cohesive. By focusing on the transformation of urban landscapes in the Late Republican and Imperial periods, the volume adds a new, explicitly historical angle to current debates about urban space in Roman studies. Confronting archaeological and historical approaches, the volume presents developments in Italy, Africa, Greece, and Asia Minor, thus significantly broadening the geographical scope of the discussion and offering novel theoretical perspectives alongside well- documented, thematic case studies. Urban Space and Urban History in the Roman World will be of interest to anyone working on Roman urbanism or Roman history in the Late Republic and early Empire.

Religion, Ethnicity and Xenophobia in the Bible looks at some of the Bible's most hostile and violent anti-foreigner texts and raises critical questions about how students of the Bible and ancient Near East should grapple with "ethnicity" and "foreignness" conceptually, hermeneutically and theologically. The author uses insights from social psychology, cognitive psychology, anthropology, sociology and ethnic studies to develop his own perspective on ethnicity and foreignness. Starting with legends about Mesopotamian kings from the third millennium BCE, then navigating the Deuteronomistic and Holiness traditions of the Hebrew Bible, and finally turning to Deuterocanonicals and the Apostle Paul, the book assesses the diverse and often inconsistent portrayals of foreigners in these ancient texts. This examination of the negative portrayal of foreigners in biblical and Mesopotamian texts also leads to a broader discussion about how to theorize ethnicity in biblical studies, ancient studies and the humanities. This volume will be invaluable to students of ethnicity and society in the Bible, at all levels.

How did Greco-Roman Egyptian society perceive women's bodies and how did it acknowledge women's reproductive functions? Detailing women's lives in Greco-Roman Egypt this monograph examines understudied aspects of women's lives such as their coming of age, social and religious taboos of menstruation and birth rituals. It investigates medical, legal and religious aspects of women's reproduction, using both historical and archaeological sources, and shows how the social status of women and new-born children changed from the Dynastic to the Greco-Roman period. Through a comparative and interdisciplinary study of the historical sources, papyri, artefacts and archaeological evidence, Becoming a Woman and Mother in Greco-Roman Egypt shows how Greek, Roman, Jewish and Near Eastern cultures impacted on the social perception of female puberty, childbirth and menstruation in Greco-Roman Egypt from the 3rd century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D.

This book concerns the relationship between ideas and power in the genesis of the Roman empire. The self-justification of the first emperor through the consensus of the citizen body constrained him to adhere to 'legitimate' and 'traditional' forms of self-presentation. Lobur explores how these notions become explicated and reconfigured by the upper and mostly non-political classes of Italy and Rome. The chronic turmoil experienced in the late republic shaped the values and program of the imperial system; it molded the comprehensive and authoritative accounts of Roman tradition and history in a way that allowed the system to appear both traditional and historical. This book also examines how shifts in rhetorical and historiographical practices facilitated the spreading and assimilation of shared ideas that allowed the empire to cohere.

This volume, which replaces Girgis's outdated prosopography from 1938, is an annotated record of every person attested in the Byzantine-era papyri from the middle Egyptian village of Aphrodito. Its papyri make Aphrodito the best attested village for this time period with implications for the study of rural life throughout Late Antiquity. For each entry, the author lists all the relevant texts and all known information about that person's social status, political position and family relations with a summary of activities for each attestation. The volume is indispensable for any scholar working with texts from Aphrodito and valuable for all concerned specifically with Egypt and more generally with rural life in Late Antiquity.

In the past twenty years the study of Sparta has come of age. Images prevalent earlier in the 20th century, of Spartans as hearty good fellows or scarlet-cloaked automata, have been superseded by more complex scholarly reactions. As interest has grown in the self-images projected by this most secretive of Greek cities, increasing attention has focused on how individual Greek writers from other states reacted to information, or disinformation about Sparta. The studies in this volume provide new insights into the traditional historians' question, "What actually happened at Sparta?". But the implications of the work go far beyond Laconia. They concern preoccupations of some of the most studied of Greek writers, and help towards an understanding of how Athenians defined the achievment, or the failure, of their own city.

This volume, from an international and interdisciplinary cohort of scholars, offers independent-minded essays about central Greek texts and about the relation of social theory and comparative method to the study of archaic and classical Greek literature. It is in honour of James M. Redfield, whose innovative and theoretically-informed work has been a touchstone for the contributors; it includes an Introduction that discusses Redfield's work, as well as a complete Bibliography of Redfield's scholarship. The volume is divided into three parts: on Homer; Plato in conversation with epic, tragedy, and comedy; and finally reception and transmission. An exploration of the dialectical relationship between literary genre and social form animates many of the essays. Drawing on work in anthropology, linguistics, sociology, art history, and philosophy, this volume offers ground-breaking perspectives on the study of Greek literature. It will be an invaluable resource to students and researchers alike.

Utopia Antiqua is a fresh look at narratives of the Golden Age and decline in ancient Roman literature of the late Republic and imperial period.

Through the lens of utopian theory, Rhiannon Evans looks at the ways that Roman authors, such as Virgil, Ovid and Tacitus, use and reinvent Greek myths of the ages, considering them in their historical and artistic context.

This book explores the meanings of the 'Iron Age' and dystopia for Roman authors, as well as the reasons they give for this decline, and the possibilities for a renewed Age of Gold.

Using case studies, it considers the cultural effects of importing luxury goods and the way that it gives rise to a rhetoric of Roman decline. It also looks at the idealisation of farmers, soldiers and even primitive barbarians as parallels to the Golden Race and role models for now-extravagant Romans.

Hundreds perished in Rome's Second Proscription, but one victim is remembered above all others. Cicero stands out, however, not only because of his fame, but also because his murder included a unique addition to the customary decapitation. For his corpse was deprived not only of its head, but also of its right hand. Plutarch tells us why Mark Antony wanted the hand that wrote the Philippics. But how did it come to pass that Rome's greatest orator could be so hated for the speeches he had written? Charting a course through Cicero's celebrated career, Shane Butler examines two principal relationships between speech and writing in Roman oratory: the use of documentary evidence by orators and the 'publication' of both delivered and undelivered speeches. He presents this fascinating theory that the success of Rome's greatest orator depended as much on writing as speaking; he also argues against the conventional wisdom that Rome was an 'oral society', in which writing was rare and served only practical, secondary purposes.

First published in 1901, this study of the social life of the Hebrews considers both the time of the judges and the time of the monarchy. Written in a popularly scientific style, designed to appeal to students of ancient Middle East and biblical history as well as the general reader, this work details the social life and and history of allied Semitic races, covering the period of time from the settlement of Canaan to the break up of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC.